Play ball! Samuel Luther Thompson, from the Danville Browns to the Detroit Tigers

I always check out historic markers we see in our travels as I love learning about local history, but imagine my surprise when I found this marker honoring a former Detroit Tiger baseball player near a field in a park near Danville, Indiana!

And now, with the Tigers' opening day fast approaching, it's a great time to find out more about this early baseball slugger who set several records yet to be broken.

Big Sam Thompson was one of 11 children born to Jesse and Rebecca McPheeters in Danville, Indiana on March 5, 1860.

Jesse Thompson was a Union soldier with Indiana's 63rd Volunteers during the Civil War. Jesse learned the then-new game of baseball in the Army and brought the game back home to Danville to share with his sons.

Baseball became big in Danville, with the town fielding four amateur teams and games drawing as many as 1,000 spectators to games.

The Thompson boys were all big kids, each standing at least 6 foot tall and weighing about 200 pounds, which was unusually large for men during the 1800s.

Baseball fans throughout central Indiana soon knew about the Thompson boys and Danville Browns teammates for their baseball skills.

"Hustling Dan O'Leary", whose career included stints as a baseball player, team manager, theatrical manager and freelance court reporter, can claim credit for discovering Sam Thompson.

O'Leary came through Danville with a pro team and the idea of scouting Sam's older brother Cy during an exhibition game. He decided that the then-26-year-old Cy was too old to begin a pro baseball career, and Sam's younger brother William, who was 6 years younger than Sam, was too young. O'Leary decided that the then 24-year-old Sam seemed the just the right age to enter pro baseball.

Danville's mayor bragged that the Browns would win the game if Sam played, which fueled O'Leary's desire to see Big Sam in action.

Sam declined O'Leary's request to see him play as the young carpenter was working on a roof and needed to finish it to earn a much-needed $2.50 he would earn by doing the job. O'Leary, determined see Sam play, paid Sam $5 to play the game instead of finishing the roof. The Danville team beat the pro team from Indy 9-0.

And so, Sam Thompson became a professional baseball player, playing first for a team in the Northwestern League from Evansville, Indiana in 1884, and then playing with the Indianapolis Hoosiers in the Western League in 1885 after the Evansville team folded. Soon, several teams in the Western League disbanded and league play stopped.

O'Leary lived in Detroit and convinced the owner of Detroit's National League team, the Wolverines, to sign Thompson.

Thompson got set to don a Wolverine uniform, but there was a problem. The team couldn't find a uniform big enough to fit Big Sam, and he made his major league debut by splitting his pants as he ran into second base after hitting a double.

Still, Sam quickly became a fan favorite and won the respect of his fellow baseball players with his impressive skills.

He led Detroit in batting during his first full year with the team in 1886. He became the first player in major league history to get more than 200 hits in a season in 1887 and racked up a total of 166 RBIs that same year, a record that stood for 34 years until Babe Ruth broke it in 1921.

Outfielder Thompson, with his batting and fielding prowess, helped lead the Wolverines to a National League pennant and an 1887 World Series victory over the St. Louis Browns of the American Association.

The Wolverines folded in 1888 due to a poor season finish and financial problems, so the Philadelphia Quakers acquired Thompson. The Quakers soon became the Philadelphia Phillies, and Thompson remained with the team until 1898.

Thompson became the first Major League player to get 20 home runs and to steal 20 bases during the 1889 season. He led the league in home runs in 1889 and 1895.

Back problems led to his retirement from the Phillies in 1898.

Thompson retired to Detroit, where he worked as a U.S. Marshall and as a bailiff in the federal court in Detroit.

He also played for the Detroit Athletic Club's amateur baseball team until persuaded to join the Detroit Tigers for a stand of home games in 1906. The 46-year-old Thompson played alongside a then-19-year-old Ty Cobb in Cobb's first season as a Tiger and became one of the oldest players to hit a triple.

Thompson retired from baseball for good, after his final game as a professional player with the Tigers on September 10, 1906.

Thompson was the only nineteenth-century player to drive in 150-plus home runs in a season (achieving that total twice).  He was a strong fielder and batter, retiring with career records of 1256 home runs, 1299 RBIs, a .331 lifetime batting average and 127 home runs. His lifetime RBIs/game record of .923 still stands today ahead of baseball greats like Babe Ruth, Hank Greenberg, Lou Gehrig and Joe DiMaggio.

Baseball authorities really never appreciated Thompson's talents during his lifetime, but later baseball historians studied and gave Thompson full credit for his stats and status as one of the sport's truly great players.

Thompson collapsed from a heart attack while working as an election inspector in Detroit on November 6, 1922. He died the next day.

Crowds gathered for a parade through town and for Thompson's burial in Detroit's historic Elmwood Cemetery.

The Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York, inducted Thompson in 1974. The Indiana Baseball Hall of Fame followed suit in 1979.

Danville erected their marker honoring Thompson in 2006.

We visited Thompson's grave in Detroit's Elmwood Cemetery on a recent snowy March day, pausing a moment to remember an early Detroit Tigers star and anticipate the coming of spring and yet another baseball season.

Check out my story of another early Midwestern baseball player, the first African American to play Major League baseball, Moses Fleetwood Walker, Ohio baseball pioneer.

Thanks to Visit Hendricks County for sponsoring my visit to Hendricks County, providing lodging, meals and a tour of Hendricks County attractions for my review during my recent visit there, with no further compensation. I was free to express my own opinions about the stay and experiences, and the opinions expressed here are mine.

© Dominique King 2013 All rights reserved

Comments

[Tonya {The Traveling Praters}]

I'm a fan of reading historical markers as well. I love gleaning little tidbits of information about the attractions I see- they really help me to appreciate the people and events that shaped the community.

Thanks for linking up to the Best of the USA blog hop. I couldn't help but read your post and think of my brother. He is a huge baseball fan and I think he'd really enjoy visiting Hendricks County and learning more about Sam Thompson.

[Don Thompson]

Nice story about our great-uncle. Actually, Danville didn't donate the marker, but our family raised the funds to erect it. We also put he full monument on his grave in Detroit. Sam and Ida didn't have any childen so it was his great-nephews and nieces who did that. We are quite proud of him and his accomplishments. He was a very important citizen of Detroit in its hey-day. Factories, businesses, courts, and town government shut down during his funeral and procession to Elmwood. Don Thompson

[Dominique King]

Thanks for stopping by, Don!
You do have a lot to be proud of...I thought your great-uncle's story was pretty amazing. I read about the turn-out for his funeral procession in Detroit and how the city pretty much stood still as it happened. I liked being able to include both markers in the story.
Historical markers here in Michigan are often funded pretty much the same way-a group will research the story and raise the money to erect a marker-so it's no surprise to me that the marker in Danville was funded in the same way.

[Dominique King]

Thanks for stopping by, Tonya!
I'll always take pictures of the markers I see in my travels...those photos can serve as a sort of note-taking, and I've found some pretty cool stories because once I've come home and researched the story. I was especially intrigued in this case as Big Sam had a strong Detroit connection.

[Don Thompson]

By the way, a biography of Sam Thompson will be published by MacFarland Publishers and written by Roy Kerr sometime in 2015. You'll enjoy the reading since the writer has uncovered many more facts concerning Sam's career.

[Dominique King]

That's a book I'll definitely have to look out for, especially as I like to read an review stories with a strong Midwest tie. It's sure to be an interesting book. I'll put it on my book list as one to look for when it comes out. Thanks for remembering to come back here and point it out to me, Don.

[Dominique King]

Don-Wow! Looking at the McFarland site, I see that Kerr has a number of books out about early baseball players. Your great-uncle's story should make a nice addition to his catelog :)